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Working Together

The Criminal Justice System involves many agencies working together to ensure that our country is a safe place to live. These agencies include the Police, The Crown Prosecution Service, Prison Service, Probation Service, Magistrates Courts, Crown Courts and many others. For more information about the Criminal Justice System visit the GOV.UK website’s Crime and Justice page .

The Criminal Justice System

The CPS works in partnership with the police, courts, the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and other agencies throughout the Criminal Justice System.

For comprehensive information about the Criminal Justice System (CJS) please visit the GOV.UK website’s Crime and Justice page .

Others in the Criminal Justice System

The Law Officers

The Attorney General fulfils the role of chief legal adviser to the government and superintends the principal prosecuting authorities within England and Wales. These are the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office. The Attorney General also has overall responsibility for the Treasury Solicitor’s Department, the National Fraud Authority and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, and fulfils a number of independent public interest functions. The Attorney General for England and Wales also holds the office of Advocate General for Northern Ireland. For more information about the Law Officers go to www.gov.uk/government/organisations/attorney-generals-office .

The Ministry of Justice

The Ministry of Justice has responsibility for different parts of the justice system – the courts, prisons, probation services and attendance centres. Its work spans criminal, civil and family justice, democracy, rights and the constitution. For more information about the Ministry of Justice, go to www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

The Home Office

The Home Office is the lead government department for immigration and passports, drugs policy, crime, counter-terrorism and police. For more information about the Home Office go to www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office .

The Serious Fraud Office

The Serious Fraud Office prosecutes serious or complex fraud, and corruption. For more information about the Serious Fraud Office go to www.sfo.gov.uk .

The Courts

Provide administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales.

Advocates representing the CPS prosecute the majority of the criminal cases that are heard within the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Courts. Magistrates’ courts deal with the less serious criminal offences. Youth courts are special magistrates’ courts which deal with all but the most serious charges against people aged between 10 (the age of criminal responsibility) and under 18. Crown Courts deal with the most serious offences, which are triable by judge and jury. For more information about the courts go to www.justice.gov.uk/about/hmcts .

The Police

There are 43 police forces across England and Wales responsible for the investigation of crime, collection of evidence and the arrest or detention of suspected offenders. Once a suspect is held, in minor cases the police decide whether to caution them, take no further action, issue a fixed penalty notice or refer to the CPS for a conditional caution, or in the more serious cases, send the papers to the CPS to decide upon prosecution. For more information, go to your local police force website through the Police Services Portal at www.police.uk .

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS)

The National Offender Management Service provides administration of correctional services in England and Wales through Her Majesty’s Prison Service and the Probation Service. Prison and probation services ensure the sentences of the courts are properly carried out and work with offenders to tackle the causes of their offending behaviour – www.justice.gov.uk/about/noms .

Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI)

HMCPSI is an independent organisation that inspects and reports on the operations of The Crown Prosecution Service. For more information go to www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmcpsi/ .

Employee Theft: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Report It

Most small business owners don t get the police involved when they catch an employee stealing from them, new research finds.

While 64 percent of small businesses have experienced employee theft, only 16 percent of those reported the incident to police, the study found.

It s important to look at this topic because such theft represents a loss to the tax base and would also seem to put such businesses at risk, and so, put our overall economy at risk, said study author Jay Kennedy, a University of Cincinnati criminal justice doctoral student.

Kennedy found four main reasons why employers are hesitant to get the authorities involved.

No real victims. The business owner does not see the victimization as serious enough to warrant his or her time and trouble beyond firing the employee.

Attorney advises against it. The business owner seeks counsel from a third party, usually his or her attorney, who often advises that the employer s costs in time and effort for a successful prosecution outweigh any likely benefits to the employer. For instance, one company went through all the time and steps for a successful prosecution of an employee who stole $200,000. The employee was convicted, put on probation and ordered to make restitution at the rate of $50 per month, Kennedy said. In essence, the small business will never recoup the stolen funds.

Emotional ties. Many of those employees caught in theft have worked alongside business owners for many years, and may even be family. In the intimate environments that are small businesses, you may know this person s spouse and children, or may see him or her in family settings at the holidays, Kennedy said. All in all, you just want to put the betrayal behind you as much and as quickly as you can.

Business owners see the police/criminal justice system as ineffective or incompetent. Since thefts by employees may involve complex finances that are not the specialty of a beat cop, small businesses often assume that a responding officer won t have the business background to appreciate or even, initially, do much about a reported crime other than write up a report. Or, small business owners assume the police are busy with more traditional, street-level law enforcement duties.

The research found that the most common item stolen was cash. Overall, 40 percent of thefts in small businesses are of money.Kennedy said that the cash thefts reported in his study ranged from $5 to $2 million, with $20,000 being the average amount stolen.

Kennedy hypothesized that the higher the dollar amount in a theft, the more trusted the employee conducting the theft. He said most people believe that employees who steal are doing so because they are poor, in desperate need of money for, say, medical treatment or other dire circumstances.

Anecdotally, I ve founded in my research that these crimes actually tend to be a matter of lifestyle enhancement, Kennedy said. Those convicted of fraud cannot account for how they spent the money.

In addition to cash, 18 percent of thefts were of products sold by the business, 12 percent were of materials (items that go into the production of a firm s product offerings), 8 percent were of tools and 6 percent were equipment.

The study revealed that most of thefts do not happen in a one-time incident, but represent an employee who steals over time. According to the research, 61 percent of reported thefts were ongoing schemes and ranged in duration from a low of about two weeks to a high of 20 years. The average duration of a theft scheme was 16 months before the employee was caught. Kennedy said in most cases the theft is discovered by sheer luck .

Say the employee who is stealing goes on vacation, and someone else steps in to take over duties, he said. The person stepping in notices something funny and begins asking questions.

The research found 60 percent of the employees most likely to steal were categorized as general or first-line employees, those at the lowest hierarchical level without supervisory responsibility. About 20 percent were managers/executives; the rest consisted of small percentages of accountant/bookkeeper/finance professionals; receptionists and secretaries; and billing/purchasing professionals.

Kennedy said that, somewhat surprisingly, only about 2 percent of cashiers those handling cold, hard cash at a cash register were likely to steal.

The study was based on surveys of 314 small business owners in Cincinnati. The businesses covered a range of industries, including the finance/banking sector; manufacturing sector; service sector; and restaurant/retail sector. Kennedy also conducted 30 in-person interviews with some of those surveyed.

The research will be presented during this week s (Feb. 18-22) annual meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in Philadelphia.

Chad Brooks is a Chicago-based freelance writer who has nearly 15 years experience in the media business. A graduate of Indiana University, he spent nearly a decade as a staff reporter for the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago, covering a wide array of topics including, local and state government, crime, the legal system and education. Following his years at the newspaper Chad worked in public relations, helping promote small businesses throughout the U.S. Follow him on Twitter .